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Friday, March 12, 2010

Budget Battle

The deficit won’t be gone by 2014 says the parliamentary budget officer, Kevin Page. The deficit will only be gone if:

  1. The economy surges ahead past expectations
  2. We raise taxes
  3. More spending cuts

The problem with the cheery expectations of the government is that Stephen Harper said in 2008 that the economy was fine. Only when he called an election did he admit that there was a world recession. So we cannot really trust the Tories. Time can only tell who will be right. And that’s if Stephen Harper doesn’t introduce massive spending cuts in the rest of his term(s).

OTTAWA–Unless the economy greatly outperforms expectations, the only way the Conservative government can meet its deficit-reduction goals by 2014 will be to slash programs or raise taxes, says parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page.

His analysis of the March 4 budget, released Thursday, casts doubt on the federal government's claim that by reducing the growth in federal spending, Ottawa can wipe out most of its current $54 billion deficit in the coming years.

The government's claim that it will nearly eliminate the deficit by 2014 will be off target by nearly $20 billion in the last two years of the plan, Page said.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/federalbudget/article/778876--tory-deficit-reducing-numbers-off-watchdog-says

1 comment:

  1. Page's GDP predictions are way lower (like 60% when you compare the bank predictions of around 3%+ compared to his 1.1% ) The defecit still drops significantly even with his predictions. If the spending is controled as suggested , which will not be easy when there are so many people demanding more,The defecits will come down. We do not need more taxes dragging on growth. If growth is anywhere near the bank predictions the defecit will be eliminated.

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